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The poll of polls |
I jokingly wondered if Rasmussen Reports had been taken over by some left wing Democrats who were manipulating the methodology used when Scott Rasmussen had been there. Now I am not joking but wondering if that is the case. Because I did that post more than two weeks ago and the outlier position of Rasmussen has been there every day since I did that post. So, for more than a month The Rasmussen Reports poll has been a high outlier of the president's approval rating.
Last month [October], while most polls had the president's approval rating dropping, Rasmussen actually showed that the president increased his approval rating by 1 point.
Could a coincidence last for more than a month in polling? Today [Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013], the Gallup poll for the first time has the president' approval rating under 40% at 39%. Today in Rasmussen it is 48%.
Let us look at the Real Clear Politics average of polls from their great website.
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President Obama job approval
Polling Data
Poll | Date | Sample | Approve | Disapprove | Spread | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RCP Average | 10/17 - 11/4 | -- | 43.4 | 51.9 | -8.5 | |||||||||
Gallup | 11/2 - 11/4 | 1500 A | 39 | 53 | -14 | |||||||||
Rasmussen Reports | 11/2 - 11/4 | 1500 LV | 48 | 51 | -3 | |||||||||
GWU/Battleground | 10/27 - 10/31 | 1000 LV | 45 | 52 | -7 | |||||||||
Reuters/Ipsos | 10/25 - 10/29 | 1660 A | 40 | 52 | -12 | |||||||||
The Economist/YouGov | 10/26 - 10/28 | 662 RV | 44 | 54 | -10 | |||||||||
NBC News/Wall St. Jrnl | 10/25 - 10/28 | 800 A | 42 | 51 | -9 | |||||||||
FOX News | 10/20 - 10/22 | 1020 RV | 41 | 53 | -12 | |||||||||
CBS News | 10/18 - 10/21 | 1007 A | 46 | 49 | -3 | |||||||||
ABC News/Wash Post | 10/17 - 10/20 | RV | 46 | 51 | -5 | |||||||||
CNN/Opinion Research | 10/18 - 10/20 | RV | 43 | 53 | -10 |
As you can see from the results above while the Real Clear Politics average of the approval rating is at 43.4% with a negative 8.5% spread [disapprove vs approve]
Rasmussen on the other hand has a 48% approval rating [a 4.6% higher outlier] and a negative spread of only 3% [a 5.5% outlier from the RCP average]. If this happened only one or two days or even one or two weeks, you could write it off to being an anomaly. But when this outlier position, always to the high side, has occurred every day for more than a month, it makes me question why.
I am not a pollster or statistics expert, so I admit I could be all wet. I just wish, like I opined in my previous post, someone like Nate Silver, the pollster and statistics guru of the New York Times [@fivethirtyeight on twitter], would do some investigation.
At one time Zogby used to be a respected poll like Rasmussen, but with some curious results and a curious methodology used, it has become persona non grata in the world of polls. The Real Clear Politics does not [and that has been for a long time] use the Zogby polls anymore.
Will Rasmussen possibly become Zogby redux?
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UPDATE: I noticed today that the Rasmussen Reports poll has the president's approval rating down to 46%. Finally down to that low [which is still above the low 40's that most of the other polls show but at least not a huge outlier like it has been for more than a month]. That is the lowest rating it has been in more than a month. Maybe the Tales reporting on this has finally had an effect on the methodology used or more likely that is wishful thinking on The Tales part. :-) We will see if Rasmussen finally has gotten out of outlier status or if this is just a one day phenomena.
2 comments:
Glad you are following this. Seems has been an outlier for approval rating since they fired founder. Even that Virginia poll that had cuncinelli at like 35% was way off. Curious how long they can keep calling it Rasmussen Reports after founder forced to leave. Contractual issues I imagine. But not same organization for sure.
Thanks anonymous for your comment. And it continues even today many weeks after my original publication. If you check every other poll inRCP has Obama's approval near40 and below. Rassmussen has him at 46 -??? Something is up.
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